My Impressions of Oly P400 Printer...Wow!

Beth wrote:

I know there were a few other people who were interested in the color rendition and quality of the Olympus P-400 dye sub printer. Mine arrived yesterday and I finally got it set up tonight and gave it a test run. I'm really excited by the outcome! The colors are true and the pictures are so close to commercially produced that I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.

I was excited even further because I am a relatively new owner of an Oly C3000 and wanted to print the 7.5X10 print to check picture quality of this camera. I can't wait to send a copy of one of these pictures to my step-daughter who has an MFA in photography and has been putting off a digital purchase! I think this may change her mind!

I think I am ready to say that I am going to sell my P-300 dye sub printer. Anyone interested? I apologize if this isn't the place to say that, but I thought while I was here I might as well....sorry!

[email protected]

Beth,
You like the print colors from the P-400, and don't mind the odd-sized print,
but I have seen some post mention scratching of the print surface. Take a
good look and see if your prints hava scratch lines and let us know ..

Thanks,
RonB

Beth said:

Beth wrote:

I know there were a few other people who were interested in the
color rendition and quality of the Olympus P-400 dye sub printer.
Mine arrived yesterday and I finally got it set up tonight and gave
it a test run. I'm really excited by the outcome! The colors are
true and the pictures are so close to commercially produced that
I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.

I was excited even further because I am a relatively new owner of
an Oly C3000 and wanted to print the 7.5X10 print to check picture
quality of this camera. I can't wait to send a copy of one of these
pictures to my step-daughter who has an MFA in photography and has
been putting off a digital purchase! I think this may change her
mind!

I think I am ready to say that I am going to sell my P-300 dye sub
printer. Anyone interested? I apologize if this isn't the place to
say that, but I thought while I was here I might as well....sorry!

[email protected]

Click to expand...

I'm one of those worried about the color rendition. Could you print the same jpg on both the P300 and P400 for a color comparison. When I did that on a P400 in a store I found the P400 to be not as vibrant as my P330 print.

Thanks,

Jay

Beth said:

Beth wrote:

I know there were a few other people who were interested in the
color rendition and quality of the Olympus P-400 dye sub printer.

I think I am ready to say that I am going to sell my P-300 dye sub
printer.
[email protected]

Click to expand...

Ebay would be a good place to sell it. But first try printing a smaller size on the P400. The P300 provides great prints to give to friends and families. Large prints can often be a burdon.

Jay,

Could be the P400 hadn't been adjusted for brightness/contrast in the store. There are ways to adjust these directly on the printer.

Beth

Jay S. said:

Thanks,

Jay

Beth said:

Beth wrote:

I know there were a few other people who were interested in the
color rendition and quality of the Olympus P-400 dye sub printer.

I think I am ready to say that I am going to sell my P-300 dye sub
printer.
[email protected]

Click to expand...

Ebay would be a good place to sell it. But first try printing a
smaller size on the P400. The P300 provides great prints to give
to friends and families. Large prints can often be a burdon.

Click to expand...

Beth wrote:
Ron,

I looked at prints (I've printed two) and can't see any scratch lines. My husband who tends to be more compulsive than I looked too and he couldn't see scratch lines either. We rotated the prints in the sun and looked from all angles. Looks good to us!

Hope that info helps!

Wish there was some way to share the prints with the forum...they are AWESOME...and I hate that word!

RonB said:

Thanks,
RonB

Beth said:

Beth wrote:

I know there were a few other people who were interested in the
color rendition and quality of the Olympus P-400 dye sub printer.
Mine arrived yesterday and I finally got it set up tonight and gave
it a test run. I'm really excited by the outcome! The colors are
true and the pictures are so close to commercially produced that
I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.

I was excited even further because I am a relatively new owner of
an Oly C3000 and wanted to print the 7.5X10 print to check picture
quality of this camera. I can't wait to send a copy of one of these
pictures to my step-daughter who has an MFA in photography and has
been putting off a digital purchase! I think this may change her
mind!

I think I am ready to say that I am going to sell my P-300 dye sub
printer. Anyone interested? I apologize if this isn't the place to
say that, but I thought while I was here I might as well....sorry!

[email protected]

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Beth wrote:

I am going to make an offer that I hope won't be interpreted as soliciting business. I just want to help people see prints if they want a sample to inspect. Send me a self-addressed stamped envelope and $5.00 and I will send you a 7.5X10 print with as many colors as I can manage to get into one photo. I will use my C3000 camera set at HQ resolution.

If interested write me at: [email protected].

Beth said:

Hope that info helps!
Wish there was some way to share the prints with the forum...they
are AWESOME...and I hate that word!

RonB said:

Thanks,
RonB

Beth said:

Beth wrote:

I know there were a few other people who were interested in the
color rendition and quality of the Olympus P-400 dye sub printer.
Mine arrived yesterday and I finally got it set up tonight and gave
it a test run. I'm really excited by the outcome! The colors are
true and the pictures are so close to commercially produced that
I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.

I was excited even further because I am a relatively new owner of
an Oly C3000 and wanted to print the 7.5X10 print to check picture
quality of this camera. I can't wait to send a copy of one of these
pictures to my step-daughter who has an MFA in photography and has
been putting off a digital purchase! I think this may change her
mind!

I think I am ready to say that I am going to sell my P-300 dye sub
printer. Anyone interested? I apologize if this isn't the place to
say that, but I thought while I was here I might as well....sorry!

[email protected]

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Beth,
My request is already in the mail.

Please, if possible include a person's face large enough to show in the sample. Good skin tone output is my major concern.
Amy

Beth said:

If interested write me at: [email protected].

Beth said:

Hope that info helps!
Wish there was some way to share the prints with the forum...they
are AWESOME...and I hate that word!

RonB said:

Thanks,
RonB

Beth said:

Beth wrote:

I know there were a few other people who were interested in the
color rendition and quality of the Olympus P-400 dye sub printer.
Mine arrived yesterday and I finally got it set up tonight and gave
it a test run. I'm really excited by the outcome! The colors are
true and the pictures are so close to commercially produced that
I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.

I was excited even further because I am a relatively new owner of
an Oly C3000 and wanted to print the 7.5X10 print to check picture
quality of this camera. I can't wait to send a copy of one of these
pictures to my step-daughter who has an MFA in photography and has
been putting off a digital purchase! I think this may change her
mind!

I think I am ready to say that I am going to sell my P-300 dye sub
printer. Anyone interested? I apologize if this isn't the place to
say that, but I thought while I was here I might as well....sorry!

[email protected]

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You know, if people want a sample picture of the prints it might be worth while for them to send am image from their OWN digital camera that they can use to compare against prints they have already made.

Just a thought. That is how I cam to buy my own inkjedt printer.

Enjoy!

Amy said:

Beth said:

If interested write me at: [email protected].

Beth said:

Hope that info helps!
Wish there was some way to share the prints with the forum...they
are AWESOME...and I hate that word!

RonB said:

Thanks,
RonB

Beth said:

Beth wrote:

I know there were a few other people who were interested in the
color rendition and quality of the Olympus P-400 dye sub printer.
Mine arrived yesterday and I finally got it set up tonight and gave
it a test run. I'm really excited by the outcome! The colors are
true and the pictures are so close to commercially produced that
I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.

I was excited even further because I am a relatively new owner of
an Oly C3000 and wanted to print the 7.5X10 print to check picture
quality of this camera. I can't wait to send a copy of one of these
pictures to my step-daughter who has an MFA in photography and has
been putting off a digital purchase! I think this may change her
mind!

I think I am ready to say that I am going to sell my P-300 dye sub
printer. Anyone interested? I apologize if this isn't the place to
say that, but I thought while I was here I might as well....sorry!

[email protected]

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Gerry,
You did flag an important issue for consideration.

No matter how good is your printer, print quality is still relative to image quality. A 7.5X10 print of image taken by a 1 megapixel camera is not comparative to image taken by 3 megapixel camera. I have Oly3030, Beth has Oly3000, our cameras basically produce similar image quality. That saves me the trouble to send her an image of mine to print. For images less than 2 megapixels, Beth's sample of 7.5X10 could give you incorrect impression of this printer.
Amy

Gerry Doyon said:

Just a thought. That is how I cam to buy my own inkjedt printer.

Enjoy!

Amy said:

Beth said:

If interested write me at: [email protected].

Beth said:

Hope that info helps!
Wish there was some way to share the prints with the forum...they
are AWESOME...and I hate that word!

RonB said:

Thanks,
RonB

Beth said:

Beth wrote:

I know there were a few other people who were interested in the
color rendition and quality of the Olympus P-400 dye sub printer.
Mine arrived yesterday and I finally got it set up tonight and gave
it a test run. I'm really excited by the outcome! The colors are
true and the pictures are so close to commercially produced that
I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.

I was excited even further because I am a relatively new owner of
an Oly C3000 and wanted to print the 7.5X10 print to check picture
quality of this camera. I can't wait to send a copy of one of these
pictures to my step-daughter who has an MFA in photography and has
been putting off a digital purchase! I think this may change her
mind!

I think I am ready to say that I am going to sell my P-300 dye sub
printer. Anyone interested? I apologize if this isn't the place to
say that, but I thought while I was here I might as well....sorry!

[email protected]

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Beth wrote:

Gerry, that would be fine! Amy, would you like to email me an image you'd like printed? I'd be happy to do it that way, if you'd like!

Beth

Gerry Doyon said:

Just a thought. That is how I cam to buy my own inkjedt printer.

Enjoy!

Amy said:

Beth said:

If interested write me at: [email protected].

Beth said:

Hope that info helps!
Wish there was some way to share the prints with the forum...they
are AWESOME...and I hate that word!

RonB said:

Thanks,
RonB

Beth said:

Beth wrote:

I know there were a few other people who were interested in the
color rendition and quality of the Olympus P-400 dye sub printer.
Mine arrived yesterday and I finally got it set up tonight and gave
it a test run. I'm really excited by the outcome! The colors are
true and the pictures are so close to commercially produced that
I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.

I was excited even further because I am a relatively new owner of
an Oly C3000 and wanted to print the 7.5X10 print to check picture
quality of this camera. I can't wait to send a copy of one of these
pictures to my step-daughter who has an MFA in photography and has
been putting off a digital purchase! I think this may change her
mind!

I think I am ready to say that I am going to sell my P-300 dye sub
printer. Anyone interested? I apologize if this isn't the place to
say that, but I thought while I was here I might as well....sorry!

[email protected]

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Hey Beth, congrats on your purchase...

How much does this printer go for? And do the prints from this printer fade as fast as prints from regular inkjet printers like the Epson 870?

Amy said:

Gerry Doyon said:

Just a thought. That is how I cam to buy my own inkjedt printer.

Enjoy!

Amy said:

Beth said:

If interested write me at: [email protected].

Beth said:

Hope that info helps!
Wish there was some way to share the prints with the forum...they
are AWESOME...and I hate that word!

RonB said:

Thanks,
RonB

Beth said:

Beth wrote:

I know there were a few other people who were interested in the
color rendition and quality of the Olympus P-400 dye sub printer.
Mine arrived yesterday and I finally got it set up tonight and gave
it a test run. I'm really excited by the outcome! The colors are
true and the pictures are so close to commercially produced that
I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.

I was excited even further because I am a relatively new owner of
an Oly C3000 and wanted to print the 7.5X10 print to check picture
quality of this camera. I can't wait to send a copy of one of these
pictures to my step-daughter who has an MFA in photography and has
been putting off a digital purchase! I think this may change her
mind!

I think I am ready to say that I am going to sell my P-300 dye sub
printer. Anyone interested? I apologize if this isn't the place to
say that, but I thought while I was here I might as well....sorry!

[email protected]

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The printer list for $999 but shop4digital.com is offering it for $888.

According to data I got from Olympus, they think the photos printed with this printer will last as long as silver halide prints=50+years partially because of the UV protective coating applied.

Raymond Kim said:

Hey Beth, congrats on your purchase...

How much does this printer go for? And do the prints from this
printer fade as fast as prints from regular inkjet printers like
the Epson 870?

Click to expand...

Beth wrote:

Amy's photo is in the mail. She emailed me an image which I printed and sent to her in the envelope she forwarded. She should receive it today or tomorrow and I'm hoping she'll comment on this forum! I can't wait to hear what she thinks! I have also sent prints to family members, one who has an MFA in photography and am waiting to hear what she thinks. She is not sold on digital photography yet, but I'm hoping this may sway her. Will let you know what she says.

Beth said:

Beth wrote:

I know there were a few other people who were interested in the
color rendition and quality of the Olympus P-400 dye sub printer.
Mine arrived yesterday and I finally got it set up tonight and gave
it a test run. I'm really excited by the outcome! The colors are
true and the pictures are so close to commercially produced that
I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.

I was excited even further because I am a relatively new owner of
an Oly C3000 and wanted to print the 7.5X10 print to check picture
quality of this camera. I can't wait to send a copy of one of these
pictures to my step-daughter who has an MFA in photography and has
been putting off a digital purchase! I think this may change her
mind!

I think I am ready to say that I am going to sell my P-300 dye sub
printer. Anyone interested? I apologize if this isn't the place to
say that, but I thought while I was here I might as well....sorry!

[email protected]

Click to expand...

Beth,

I got my sample yesterday. Thanks very much and also thanks for the trouble printing the file I sent you.

I spent quite a bit of time comparing the sample to prints of same picture by Epson 1270 on their heavy weight matt paper at 8X10 and also on Canon CD-300 at 4X6 borderless size.

The details are shockingly good on the P-400 sample. My picture is a young man fishing crab on a real nice day at sea side wearing a light color outfit. 1536X2048 pixel. At 7.5"X10" continuous tone, the print details are down to seeing tiny hair on his arms, small pimples on his face, shapes of his finger nails and every shine captured on his jet black hair. Amazing. This is different from Oly's last dysub P-330 which shows layer of color if viewed at an angle. I am sure impressed with the quality. Epson 1270 is good but not comparable with the details.

On the down side: 1.Major problem to me is a yellow cast that makes the print not as color original as Canon CD-300 or Epson 1270. This is not related to brightness of paper stock. This, hopefully can be fixed with printer color adjustment. 2. I do see very thin vertical scratches through the print but not really noticeable until you purposely look for them. 3. Paper stock is not heavy enough (minor problem).

This printer reminds me of Alp's MD5000, which was the only sub $1000 dyesub capable of printing 8X10. P-400 is definitely more than a level better. Comparing to profession dye subs like Kodak's 8660 (forgot exact model no.) or similar series, the quality is still not quite the same. However, their price tag of $5000 or up makes P-400 pretty good value.
Would like to say more but got to pack up for weekend trip.
Amy

Beth said:

Beth said:

Beth wrote:

I know there were a few other people who were interested in the
color rendition and quality of the Olympus P-400 dye sub printer.
Mine arrived yesterday and I finally got it set up tonight and gave
it a test run. I'm really excited by the outcome! The colors are
true and the pictures are so close to commercially produced that
I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.

I was excited even further because I am a relatively new owner of
an Oly C3000 and wanted to print the 7.5X10 print to check picture
quality of this camera. I can't wait to send a copy of one of these
pictures to my step-daughter who has an MFA in photography and has
been putting off a digital purchase! I think this may change her
mind!

I think I am ready to say that I am going to sell my P-300 dye sub
printer. Anyone interested? I apologize if this isn't the place to
say that, but I thought while I was here I might as well....sorry!

[email protected]

Click to expand...

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Beth wrote:

I'm glad you received your print, Amy! I was very anxious to hear what you thought. And yes, you are right. You CAN adjust the print for subtle color changes. I have not played with that yet...have printed with the adjustments that the printer had out of the box.

It is good to hear what someone who has seen other printer output thinks. I have not seen these other printers work, so your comments were very interesting.

All I know is that this printer meets my needs and I am very happy!

Amy said:

Beth said:

Beth said:

Beth wrote:

I know there were a few other people who were interested in the
color rendition and quality of the Olympus P-400 dye sub printer.
Mine arrived yesterday and I finally got it set up tonight and gave
it a test run. I'm really excited by the outcome! The colors are
true and the pictures are so close to commercially produced that
I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.

I was excited even further because I am a relatively new owner of
an Oly C3000 and wanted to print the 7.5X10 print to check picture
quality of this camera. I can't wait to send a copy of one of these
pictures to my step-daughter who has an MFA in photography and has
been putting off a digital purchase! I think this may change her
mind!

I think I am ready to say that I am going to sell my P-300 dye sub
printer. Anyone interested? I apologize if this isn't the place to
say that, but I thought while I was here I might as well....sorry!

[email protected]

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Beth wrote:

I told the group I'd share the comments of my photographer relative with whom I was sharing a 7.5X10 and some smaller prints. Here is what she thought when she saw them:

I got your photos. The colors look very vivid, the smaller pictures seem hold
more detail. The main problem with any digital image is that you can't blow

them up to more than 8x10 without losing detail & sharpness. thats why most of the times photographers take a film image and scan. I am personally a nit picker when it comes to pin point sharpness! When companies show you what their printers can do, it is with a film image (4x5 inch neg), scanned at 2400 dpi, and it looks sharp. Even the high end digital cameras like the nikon D1, ($5000), you can't go bigger than 8x10. I mean the images are good, but if you want large prints, the best way to go now is film. I am sure in the future the technology will be there. i heard of a company that is trying to develop a film like cartidge that fits inside traditional cameras, but takes a digital image.

Also too the images that are in digital format whether from a digital camera
or scanned, have this strange/different ( i can't think of another term)
look. Its just different than film. And the color rendition is also slightly
different. I guess its like comparing apples & oranges though.

Beth said:

Beth wrote:

I know there were a few other people who were interested in the
color rendition and quality of the Olympus P-400 dye sub printer.
Mine arrived yesterday and I finally got it set up tonight and gave
it a test run. I'm really excited by the outcome! The colors are
true and the pictures are so close to commercially produced that
I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.

I was excited even further because I am a relatively new owner of
an Oly C3000 and wanted to print the 7.5X10 print to check picture
quality of this camera. I can't wait to send a copy of one of these
pictures to my step-daughter who has an MFA in photography and has
been putting off a digital purchase! I think this may change her
mind!

I think I am ready to say that I am going to sell my P-300 dye sub
printer. Anyone interested? I apologize if this isn't the place to
say that, but I thought while I was here I might as well....sorry!

[email protected]

Click to expand...

I believe that the issue of the odd print size is more important that it appears to be. If you are using it for personal use 7.5" wide might be useful or can be ignored. But is you intend to use it commercially or at least try to offer prints to your customers, then it is useless. No better that for an instant proof of photo session. You have to be able to print at least 8" wide in order to make an 8x10" print. How are you going to explain that it picture is not 8x10" but 7.5x10 and that it would leave blank space in the regular frame?

Amy said:

Gerry,
You did flag an important issue for consideration.
No matter how good is your printer, print quality is still relative
to image quality. A 7.5X10 print of image taken by a 1 megapixel
camera is not comparative to image taken by 3 megapixel camera. I
have Oly3030, Beth has Oly3000, our cameras basically produce
similar image quality. That saves me the trouble to send her an
image of mine to print. For images less than 2 megapixels, Beth's
sample of 7.5X10 could give you incorrect impression of this
printer.
Amy

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Wow your step-daughter is even pickier then I am. Personally I go by this:

If I can see the dots in the picture then its not photo quality.

Also Amy use Genuine Fractals more often and you'll find that even a digital image can be blown up and still have remarkable detail to them. Just look at Nikon they took the 990 a 3.34MP digital camera (2048x1536 pixel) and blown the picture up to a 65x43 foot tall image of a dino.

Thats remarkable also the GF (Genuine Fractals) program uses different algorithms then your basic photoshop program does (5.5 and 6.0). PhotoShop 6.0 uses the Bicubic,nearest neighbor,bilinier.

Beth i agree with you... i have gone a little above 8x10 with genuine fractals but they do not compare with scanning 4x5 negatives....i shoot with a d1...maybe next year

dave

Beth said:

I got your photos. The colors look very vivid, the smaller pictures
seem hold
more detail. The main problem with any digital image is that you
can't blow
them up to more than 8x10 without losing detail & sharpness. thats
why most of the times photographers take a film image and scan. I
am personally a nit picker when it comes to pin point sharpness!
When companies show you what their printers can do, it is with a
film image (4x5 inch neg), scanned at 2400 dpi, and it looks
sharp. Even the high end digital cameras like the nikon D1,
($5000), you can't go bigger than 8x10. I mean the images are
good, but if you want large prints, the best way to go now is
film. I am sure in the future the technology will be there. i heard
of a company that is trying to develop a film like cartidge that
fits inside traditional cameras, but takes a digital image.

Also too the images that are in digital format whether from a
digital camera
or scanned, have this strange/different ( i can't think of another
term)
look. Its just different than film. And the color rendition is also
slightly
different. I guess its like comparing apples & oranges though.

Beth said:

Beth wrote:

I know there were a few other people who were interested in the
color rendition and quality of the Olympus P-400 dye sub printer.
Mine arrived yesterday and I finally got it set up tonight and gave
it a test run. I'm really excited by the outcome! The colors are
true and the pictures are so close to commercially produced that
I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.

I was excited even further because I am a relatively new owner of
an Oly C3000 and wanted to print the 7.5X10 print to check picture
quality of this camera. I can't wait to send a copy of one of these
pictures to my step-daughter who has an MFA in photography and has
been putting off a digital purchase! I think this may change her
mind!

I think I am ready to say that I am going to sell my P-300 dye sub
printer. Anyone interested? I apologize if this isn't the place to
say that, but I thought while I was here I might as well....sorry!

[email protected]

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what are the paper options for this printer??